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Life in Floriduh [1]

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Date: 2023-03-04  

I live in between the murky spaces of two different Floridas. In one nightmarish reality, I have a deeply disturbed governor who has picked fights with the biggest businesses here including the cruise ship industry, the university system and even Disney. He forgot what we all know, “Don’t mess with the Mouse!” He has made us all look ignorant and racist just for living here. Our already terrible school systems are now a wasteland of brutal teacher shortages, low standards and idiotic, anti-woke rage outbreaks. My county replaced a long time school board chairperson who was a former teacher and incredibly good at her job with a “Moms for Liberty” (not) dope who not only has never been a teacher, but has no degree at all. Our Governor wastes our money trying to legislate against drag shows when we have poor and homeless people everywhere. He vetoed one of our counties when they voted that they had the right to clean water.

Yes, all of the water in Floriduh is dirty. Our lakes are full of weed-killing chemicals, our rivers are full of raw sewage, so much so that 1,100 manatees starved to death in the Indian River Lagoon last year. The lagoon was once one of the most bio-diverse systems on this planet. The filth has killed the sea grass the manatees depend on. Out of state companies were allowed to rake away all of the clams that once filtered the lagoon’s water as well. This year will likely be worse. Our beaches are also polluted and full of trash. Wetlands are still being filled in, trees are clear-cut. The loss of animal and plant life has devastated our ecosystem but there is no end to the destruction on the horizon. People die here in cancer-clusters due to PFAS, “forever chemicals” in our drinking water.

In the other Florida, I live on the “Space Coast” where we often have 2 or 3 rocket launches per week. NASA successfully launched the most complicated largest rocket beyond the moon last year; Artemis. SpaceX successfully launched a crew to the International Space Station last week. We have launch dates this year for ULA’s Vulcan rocket; a replacement for the reliable but old, expensive Atlas V, Relativity’s Terran I; a rocket that is fully 3D printed and we will likely add Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket to the list as well. It was Blue Origin and not SpaceX that first re-landed stage one of its New Shepard rocket in Texas. Firefly is also leasing a pad at the cape for at least one of its space vehicles. In fact, we have more space vehicles moving in every year.

Don’t come at me with the “Why do we waste money on space?” crap. Head over to Spinoff.NASA.gov and educate yourself about all the marvelous things in your life that were the results of NASA research which is then given freely to the public for further uses. I, personally, love knowing when a hurricane is headed my way at least 3 days beforehand rather than being surprised by a category 5 when I wake up in the morning. Did you imagine that Google owns the satellites that power your GPS? Firefighters, do you like the NOMEX we gave your for heat-proof clothing, courtesy of the Shuttle Thermal Protection System? Oh, you didn’t know that many life-saving drugs are engineered on the International Space Station? Not for fun, but because they are measured at the molecular level and, guess what? You can see the molecule better in micro-gravity! You’re welcome! Do I sound slightly bitter? I am.

But, there is a desperate shortage of educated workers at the Cape, which includes NASA as well as the Air Force Space Wing. (I will never say “Space Force” since it reminds me of the stupid expense of changing the uniforms and insignias of an agency without any kind of structural or meaningful change of its mission.) That is why the aerospace agencies have dumped huge wads of money on our universities and even charities that will teach tech skills to children. Companies like Boeing, Blue Origin and Lockheed are stealing engineers from each other any time they can. I would be shocked to learn that none of these companies has privately leaned on our governor to stop ruining our educational system but I have no proof of that. They have certainly imported most of their workers from other states and countries.

I no longer wish to have my highly educated children live in Florida despite the pain of having them so far away. What mother would want her daughter or daughter-in-law to risk prison, or even her life, because she had a miscarriage? What mother would want her brown son be more likely to be beat up or shot by the police?

I am doing my part in this and so are many others. But I don’t dare tell you about our efforts, lest someone in power seek to punish the charities for which I work. I also don’t dare tell you why I know so much about the space industry. We are all working underground here to stem the tide of destruction to our state and its citizens. Next time you want to kick us while we are down, try to remember that, for some of us, it is more important to endure the discomfort and keep fighting the darkness as long as we can. We have choices. We could move, but who would save the children, the manatees, the birds and the life-giving waters?

Don’t vacation here! Don’t bring your money here. Stop funding our local governments! Don’t send your children to school here (except Embry-Riddle — we still need more engineers.) Go to Disneyland, if you need a fix of the mouse. Stop criticizing us and start helping us! if you are shooting a movie, pick another state or, even better, Puerto Rico. They could use the money. Florida must clean up its act before it can be part of the civilized world again. And PLEASE! stop retiring here. We have no clean air or water to offer you. We have terrible health care and a serious shortage of nurses and doctors. Most of our cities have no psychiatrists despite the dire need for them. I am not exaggerating. Things here are very, very bad.

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